As He Slips Away
by EternityBlue77
Summary: What if Lloyd was bitten by the Great Devourer instead of his father, and Garmadon became the Green Ninja destined to stop him?
1. Prologue

Prologue

Year of the First Spinjitsu Master

Garmadon opened his eyes.

His arms were outstretched to the sides, one leg crossed, the other standing straight. He was perfectly balanced on a standing stick. His brother Wu was in the same position beside him, and his father standing before them. All were deep in meditation. Except for Garmadon.

"What troubles you, my son?" The First Spinjitsu Master opened his eyes and caught Garmadon staring at the white disc of the sun through the overcast sky. "Morning meditations are meant to clear your mind, yet I sense yours is filled with chaos." The First Spinjitsu Master was a silhouette against the lantern light spilling out from the monastery behind him.

Garmadon sighed, causing Wu to unclose his eyes and watch him with interest.

"Father, I..."

"Speak to me, son."

"It's... It's the visions. I wake up in cold sweat every night."

"The visions with the snake?"

"And the green light." Garrmadon's voice adopted a low undertone, his eyes growing distant as the memories took hold of him. "I fear they may be bad omens."

"Hm." The First Spinjitsu Master stroked his beard. "There are few things worse than being blind."

Garmadon frowned. His father's wisdom always began with the strangest words. "And one of those things is having sight without vision. You must act upon your fears to destroy them. But I cannot help you understand your visions. That is a journey for your soul alone."

Garmadon ran his teeth together. It wasn't the contact with others that caused his emotions to rise like a typhoon. It was the pandemonium and discord within his own mind.

The First Spinjitsu Master leaped down from the stick that held him five feet above the ground. "Perhaps today will be spent away from training. Your mind must not be cluttered if you are to find the meaning within the messages stirring inside you."

The First Spinjitsu Master turned away and walked back into the monastery, seizing a cup of tea before the doors shut behind him. He trusted his sons would remain within the monastery walls.

"Brother, let's go!" Wu picked up two wooden swords, tossing the second one to Garmadon while picking up a shield and throwing it at him as well. Garmadon flinched away. "Wu!"

Wu froze. "...Sorry, brother."

"What, does it look like I have four arms?"

Wu cast his gaze to the ground, and Garmadon pinched the bridge of his nose. Wu was always the quiet and sensitive one whenever he did something wrong. Garmadon learned from his mistakes and moved on, despite the thousand voices in his head.

"Alright. Let us play."

Wu's frown instantly rose into a smile, light filling his eyes. He raised his sword, roaring like a dragon. Garmadon raised his shield, deflecting his sloppy attacks. Garmadon laughed as he tossed his brother's sword aside with the shield. Enraged, Wu kicked Garmadon's sword out of his hands, and it flew over the monastery walls. They heard it land in the tall grass on the other side with a _ thush _.

Garmadon's hands dropped to his sides. "Great. Now we only have one sword."

Wu raised a fist, and Garmadon flinched, expecting a punch. Instead, Wu wanted to play a silly game he'd invented called Rock Paper Scissors. Garmadon thought it was utterly pointless.

"No, Wu." Garmadon said sternly, his eyes remaining still. "We're going to climb over the wall and get the sword."

Wu cast a weary glance at the monastery doors their father had disappeared behind. He turned back to his brother with fear in his eyes. "I don't want to upset father."

Garmadon shut his eyes and breathed in. "Wu, listen. We're going to venture beyond the walls in the future. Never put off tomorrow what can be done today. Are you coming with me, or not?"

Wu remained frozen. Garmadon's nostrils flared. "Fine." He turned away, braced himself, and leaped up to catch the peak of the wall. He pulled himself up, swung his legs over, and dropped down. The tall grass brushed against his waist as he traveled through the stalks, his eyes searching for the fallen sword.

There.

Beside the brush.

He knelt on one knee, his hand reaching forward to pick it up. Then, a low hissing, and a pair of purple eyes watched him from the darkness of the bush. The snake reared its elongated body, purple venom dripping from its teeth. Garmadon froze, utterly petrified.

Then, a shadow swooped over him. He glanced behind him, his father's silhouette against the early morning sun. He raised his stick, smacking the snake away from his son. The snake gave a disgusting hiss, then slithered away into the darkness.

"Come, son." His father offered his hand. "You're going to be okay."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Father, this isn't going to make your sickness any better," Garmadon crossed his arms as he watched his father meditate beneath the Weeping Willow near their temple. "It's so cold that even the trees have shed their leaves. What is the point of this?"

Wu remained sitting beside their father, silent, observing.

The First Spinjitsu Master tilted his head back and breathed deeply. When he opened his eyes, the starlight reflected off their surface. "My time draws short. I wish to meet my fate surrounded by the stars I have created. Please, son. Sit with me."

Garmadon's eyebrows creased together. He never liked it when his father acted stubborn like this. Yet, he knew the day would come when he would laugh at all the moments his father acted ridiculous, and then proved his son wrong moments later. He wouldn't get another chance.

A lump in his throat, he sat cross-legged across from his father, his gaze traveling between him and Wu. Aside from his anger, his emotions were not very decipherable on the surface. But the shattered tone in his next words revealed just how he was falling apart from within. "Please don't go, father."

The First Spinjitsu Master gave his sons a deep smile of unspoken emotion. "You are both coming of age. It is time you continue your life journeys on your own. But remember-my guidance will always await you in the stars. I will be there, even when you can't see me."

His face scrunched, and a hand flew to his chest where he gripped his robes, breathing deeply.

Panic rushed through Wu before their father's breathing leveled out again. He grimaced, his eyes cast downwards. His fingers tightened around his bamboo staff as he placed it in his lap. "My sons. Before I leave, there is something I must tell you."

Wu and Garmadon scooted closer.

"A great darkness is coming. I have seen it. It will not arrive soon, but it _will _arrive."

Garmadon's eyes narrowed. "A darkness?"

"Much like you, my son, I have seen it in visions. If this darkness is allowed to manifest, the world I have created will be consumed in everlasting nothingness."

"We will not let that happen," Wu glanced at his brother and nodded. "We will do everything in our power to stop it."

The First Spinjitsu Master shook his head solemnly. "I merely deliver this message to you as a warning, for it is not your destiny to stop the darkness." He bowed his head, his straw hat masking his face. "A chosen one will rise to destroy the coming threat. A Green Ninja."

Garmadon's eyes widened. The flashes of green light in his visions stormed through his memories. "A Green Ninja... Father, do you think this is related to my visions?"

Wu awaited for an answer.

Garmadon frowned. "Father?"

With a dull _clank _, the First Spinjitsu Master's staff rolled out of his limp grip.

Wu scrambled to his feet and stared.

A cold wind rushed past them.

One Year Later

"Lloyd." Misako's gaze held the eyes of the child in her arms. The child with green eyes, illuminated yellow by the candlelight of their temple's wooden bedroom. Garmadon held the child as well, his head resting on Misako's shoulder.

"Yes," He agreed, his voice adopting a low undertone. "His name will be Lloyd."

The baby gave a silent yawn, still shaking away the layers of sleep.

Garmadon loved his child. He loved him before he came into the world of Ninjago. But his eyes.

His green eyes.

His father didn't have them, and neither did Wu or Garmadon. His dreams and visions haunted him like a plague whenever he was alone.

Ever since his run-in with the serpent that would never stop growing, all that remained in Garmadon's mind was the green light. That green light. It filled his dreams, his mind, blinding his eyes whenever he was pulled from deep slumber.

Perhaps it had nothing to do with his son.

Perhaps it did.

But even after his son was born, his visions never faded away.

What did this all mean...

"Garmadon?" Misako looked up from the eyes of their son to gaze at her husband with concern, half her face obscured in shadow, the other illuminated in the soft glow of the candle lighting up the room.

Garmadon blinked, returning to the moment. He'd never told Misako about the visions he had as a boy growing up. Perhaps he thought they were meaningless, just a cruel overused trick his mind would play on him. Perhaps he didn't want his wife to carry the burden of a lifetime of bad omens.

It had been a year since his father died, and Ninjago was left in the hands of his two sons. There were moments when Garmadon wished his father could've met his son. Wished he could've heard his words of wisdom whenever his mind grew heavy with questions about his visions. But his only answer remained the same. _I cannot help you understand your visions. That is a journey for your soul alone. _

Garmadon gave his wife a smile. "It's been a week. The others are waiting outside. Is it time they finally met him?"

Misako gave a nod of approval, and Garmadon slipped his arms around his son, holding him against his chest as Misako tugged at the sliding wooden doors leading outside their room.

Against the influx of the rising sun, Wu and his ninja awaited.

"His name is Lloyd Garmadon," Garmadon announced, but not loud enough to startle his son. "And he will be your brother."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

He was five. Kai threw a swift side kick, and Lloyd tumbled to the ground in tears. Cole grabbed his arms and tugged him to his feet. "Come on, Lloyd! You can do it!" He bunched Lloyd's fingers into fists. "Fists up. Protect your face."

He was ten. Zane's internal computer was calculating Lloyd's movements as he delivered a series of punches and kicks. Zane blocked the movements until Lloyd doubled over, shoulders rising and falling with each breath. "You came so close to breaking Jay's record. You had two more minutes to go.

Lloyd sat on the floor. "I can't do this! I've been training all week and I still can't get it!"

Jay seized his arms, pulling him back into a standing position. "Hey! You came closer to a full twenty minutes than I did at your age!"

Zane knelt down so they were both eye-level. "Don't give up, Lloyd."

He was twelve. The bounty swayed and shuttered in the storm, the training equipment sliding across the deck. Poles stuck up from the floor, and Lloyd flew across them, leaping from one pole to the other on his hands and bare feet. Master Wu swung at him with his staff, and Lloyd twisted and flipped through the air like a snake, dodging each attack with ease. Rainwater descended down his face like tears, his expression set in determination.

"To defeat your enemy, you must forget and be mindful of your surroundings at the same time." Wu swung his staff low, and Lloyd leaped in the air to avoid it, landing on his palms on the poles. One of his hands slipped on the wet surface. His arms flew out to grab another pole, and he quickly hauled himself up just as Wu made another swing.

He was fourteen. The golden candlelight flickered across his face, casting shadows over his shut eyes. He was meditating in the monastery, his father across from him. "To unlock your true potential, you must explore the innermost workings of your mind and soul. Find harmony between the two. Understand your strengths. Your weaknesses. Respect them. And then push past them."

He was sixteen. "HAH! I've _destroyed _you!" Lloyd threw his hands into the air, utterly victorious.

"WHAT?!" Jay stared at Lloyd's name having taken his place on the high score board. He stared until the TV's light burned his eyes. "My... My high score." He threw the remote to the floor. "No fair! First you beat my twenty minute training score, now my game?!"

Lloyd extended his hands, as if showing off, heading backwards to the door. "What can I say?" He tossed his remote back to Jay. "Training pays off."

Master Wu raised his head in acknowledgment from outside the room. He and his brother had been watching Lloyd's training closely for the past three years, when it became apparent that he would grow stronger than the rest of the ninja.

Garmadon crossed his arms, nodding silently. They remained at a distance from Lloyd, following him outside the Destiny's Bounty to the training area. They watched as Lloyd tore through training without any guidance, eventually surpassing the rest of the boys.

Kai scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Show-off."

Eventually, everyone surrounded Lloyd once he'd finished his daily training.

"Looks like someone's training to be the legendary Green Ninja," Cole laughed.

Lloyd blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, come _on _, Lloyd! You're the best of all of us!" Kai pounded a slap on Lloyd's upper back. Lloyd instantly caught his wrist, thinking he was throwing a punch.

Master Wu ran his fingers through his beard. "You've come a long way over the years. And you possess all the qualities that the Green Ninja would have. Strength, leadership, selflessness, loyalty..."

Garmadon placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "We believe you're ready to lead this team." He glanced up at the rest of the ninja. "All of us. And I don't think we'd rather have anyone else lead us."

Lloyd's brows creased together. He glanced down at his hands, imagining the green gi cloaking him. "I don't... I never imagined myself as the Green Ninja. I don't even have any elemental powers."

"But you train harder than the rest of us," Kai stepped forward. "Even with our powers, you still beat us in every fight."

"The true strength of a ninja comes in the reliance of his mind and body," Wu smiled beneath his beard. "Powers are a bonus."

"So... what," Lloyd looked hesitant beneath the expectant gazes surrounding him. This was all too sudden. "Do I just put on the green gi and suddenly everyone calls me Green Ninja?"

"You must unlock your true potential," Garmadon said. "Tomorrow, we will journey to one of our father's temples. The temple where Wu and I first unlocked our own true potentials. To become the Green Ninja, you must unlock your own and find inner peace. If any place is best to do this, it is in the temple where Wu and I were raised."

Garmadon clenched his jaw. The visions that haunted his sleep had lessened in intensity as he'd grown older, but he couldn't deny the fact he was anxious about this. The darkness. The green light. His father's words.

As his son advanced over the years, he grew more and more certain that his son was going to be part of whatever his father had tried to warn them about. Now, it was inevitable.

Lloyd was going to be the Green Ninja.

And the darkness was coming.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lloyd was high above the city of Ninjago, his body suspended by invisible forces, gravity tugging at his feet. Dark clouds enveloped the city like a predator's talons gripping it's prey. Structures were torn from their foundations, pieces of the city fractured and swirling in the air around him. Buildings and skyscrapers passed through one another, colliding in geometric, spiraling patterns. Lloyd's head was tilted back, eyes alight with purple fire, enfolded in utter chaos. His scream was everywhere. In the air, in the darkness, in the underground dwellings of the Serpentine.

_Where are the Serpentine? _

Garmadon tried to reach for his son, but his arms and legs might as well have been made of stone. The shadows wouldn't let him move. He shut his eyes, trying to will the images away from him, but he wasn't in control.

_Why aren't I in control? _

"Lloyd...!" The desperation in his voice seemed to be the only thing that could reach him.

_Why can't I reach him? _

When he opened his eyes again, he saw the blurry visage of Lloyd through the burning tears. His face was passive, a faraway look in his eyes. His eyes were a fiery purple, and each time he blinked, there was nothing in them but an endless void.

"_ Father _," Lloyd's voice echoed in his mind, wounded and cracked, as if his soul were undergoing an eternal battle. " _Help me _..."

"Lloyd!" Garmadon's voice caught in a choke as he pulled himself upright in his bed, his forehead slamming against the top bunker. "... Ow."

On the bunk above him, Misako stirred. "Mmm... Garmadon?"

Garmadon let out a pent-up breath, collapsing back into his pillow, arm covering his eyes. "Misako. I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

"Only for the seventh day in a row," Misako dropped from her top bunk, landing silently on her feet. She slipped into her husband's bed, dragging the covers with her that he'd thrashed onto the floor. The beds on the Bounty were small, only enough for one person, but Misako was much thinner than Garmadon, so she easily fit in his arms. "You've been worried too much about our son lately. He's going to be fine. He's strong and dedicated enough to become the Green Ninja, just as everyone agreed."

Misako had assumed his nightmares were recent. And in a way, she'd been right, despite the fact that the visions had visited him multiple times throughout his life.

Garmadon held his wife close, feeling something familiar and precious to him as the effects of the nightmare faded. "Yes. You're right. But I just can't help but feel..."

He didn't want to cause any unnecessary panic. Perhaps he _was _overthinking things. Perhaps he'd been overthinking the visions his entire life, and that was why they'd kept revisiting him. Perhaps they meant something, and even if he told everyone, there would be nothing they would do.

Perhaps the coming darkness had to do with Garmadon himself. What if that was why the visions kept visiting _him _, and not his son?

When Garmadon didn't finish his sentence, Misako held his face. "It's the uncertainty of the future that scares us sometimes. Never truly having control over what will happen. But our son will be great. With his strength and loyalty to his family, he will lead us to a future free of darkness and discord." She met his gaze and smiled. "We raised Ninjago's savior."

Garmadon smiled back, absorbing her words, wanting to believe it so bad.

But the visions had a much stronger hold on him.

Lloyd was with Wu in the First Spinjitsu Master's home in the high mountains, while the rest of the team were visiting a nearby village on the Destiny's Bounty.

After a beat, Misako shifted, sitting upright and stretching. "Lloyd's not far. If anything happens to us, he can reach us."

It wasn't themselves Garmadon was worried about.

The two-story temple stood perched near the edge of a miles-long cliff, overlooking a vast lake below. Tall hills peaked over the white mist stretched out across the ground.

Surrounding three-quarters of the temple was a towering gray stone wall, aged with greenery, moss and vines crawling up it's surface. The air smelled of chrysanthemums, magnolia and incense. The cold breeze rising from the landscape below played pacifying music.

Lloyd and Wu were meditating silently on the edge of the cliff. Behind them, the gates of the temple's walls were open, moving with small creaks in the wind.

Wu was silent, breathing slowly.

Lloyd was struggling. Restless. Trying to find that "pinnacle" that Wu had kept talking about. The moment when you reach true understanding. The moment you find your inner peace, and unlock your true potential.

The words repeated themselves in his mind until they lost their meaning.

Eventually, Lloyd just stubbornly sat in silence. Not thinking. Just staring into the darkness behind his closed eyes.

Staring.

At the darkness.

At the grass.

Suddenly, he was moving through the ground, edges of his vision gyrating with different colors. His body long and thin, slithering through the overgrown plants. Nature's garden.

The temple's walls towered over him, the sunlight blinding.

Then, he saw himself.

As if he were outside of his own body, watching himself meditate from a lower perspective.

He saw golden light moving through his body, radiating from his center, moving through his veins like golden blood.

Such pureness.

Hungry.

Devourer.

Lloyd's eyes shot open and he screamed.

His arm burned with cold fire. He glanced down. A black snake had it's fangs buried in his flesh through his white gi. Black and red blood bloomed across the fabric like a storm cloud materializing in a pure sky.

Wu's eyes flew open, and his gaze darted everywhere, trying to come to his surroundings as if waking from a dream. When he turned to face Lloyd, it was too late.

He had been bitten by the snake that would never stop growing.

The creature his father had warned him about.

He should've remembered. Remembered the dangers that awaited them in their first homes.

"No!" He swung his staff at the snake, but his remained buried in his arm, holding the boy hostage.

Lloyd's face was frozen, his upper lip quivering. He looked to be in shock.

"Lloyd!" Wu screamed. His eyes fell on the device laying in the tall wildgrass. Lloyd's earpiece. The device that connected him to the bounty. Acting quickly, he seized it and buried it in his fist until he hit the emergency button.

"_ Submit to the darkness _," A voice permeated through the air as the snake's eyes glowed violet.

Suddenly, Lloyd's free arm flew out, grabbing the snake by the neck and squeezing.

"_ Submit _!" The voice grew louder.

Lloyd's lips moved as he spoke in a tone an octave deeper than his own. "I don't submit to the darkness."

Darkness crawled through his veins, inching beneath his skin, extending from the area where the snake had it's teeth sunk in.

Lloyd's eyes lost their color. He squeezed until he heard a satisfying _crack _from the snake's neck, and he tossed the limp creature aside. "Darkness submits to _me _."

Lloyd rose to his feet. The wind stoped moving around them, and everything stood still.

Wu couldn't move. "Lloyd...?"

His eyes. He'd never seen anything like it before. Darkened colors swirled in them like oil and paint in water. But there was still a fading ring of light around where his pupils would've been. A light resisting.

"Wu..." He spoke with two voices. His own, and one Wu didn't recognize. "I can't... breathe..."

A flash of purple light, and Lloyd collapsed into the grass beside the dead snake.


End file.
